EditorialMosque mania
Two weeks ago, Community Board 1 held a full board meeting with an agenda item so contentious and controversial that the chairperson of the board had to call in an unprecedented police presence. The hearing was held to vet the issue of the Cordoba Initiative’s plans to build a community and prayer center two blocks from the World Trade Center site.

Cuts would be a horrible chapter for our libraries
By Henry Chang
I first discovered the New York Public Library as a grade school kid, going on class trips to the local Chinatown branches at Chatham Square and Seward Park. I discovered a world of books, mysteries and magazines, and was thrilled to get my first library card so I could bring material home to read.

Angry Buddhist in court and on vendors, BID, Obomba
By Carl Rosenstein
I was in court recently answering to the charge of drinking a cup of coffee in DeSalvio Playground in Little Italy back in April. The administrative court is located in the Clock Tower Building, at 346 Broadway. The rows of benches in the 20-foot-by-50-foot room were packed with miscreants, fiends, pot smokers, public drinkers and public urinators.

FROM THE EDITOR
Dear ThriveNYC Reader,
With this issue, ThriveNYC enters its fifth year of publication.

Senior Summer School
Live & learn with a variety of classes
Thoughts of summer school usually aren’t very pleasant. Kids were sent to school during summer break because of poor grades or discipline problems. Once there, it was boredom city or so hot you couldn’t think even if you were so inclined. Worse, friends were off to camps hiking or pools swimming.

A Man of Passion
From fine food to chic design, Jean Denoyer has a zest for life

Changing of guard as Winski is 1st Precinct chief
By Albert Amateau
Captain Edward J. Winski, who became commanding officer of the First Precinct at the beginning of last month, brings 17 years of experience to the job and a familiar name to the precinct covering Lower Manhattan, including Hudson Square, Soho and Tribeca.

Denes takes reins at board of Westbeth Artists Housing
By Albert Amateau
The Westbeth board of directors on May 28 elected Ronni Denes as president of the board. Denes, external affairs vice present of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, has been a member of the Westbeth board since 2007.

News

Far West Village zoning would cap heights at 80 ft.
By Albert Amateau
The City Planning Commission on Monday began the public review of new development rules for six blocks of the Far West Village intended to preserve the low-rise character of a mixed residential neighborhood threatened with large commercial projects.

A senior ‘hipster’ scales world’s highest peak
By Albert Amateau
Donald Healy was back home last week talking to The Villager after returning from his successful expedition to the summit of Mt. Everest, at 29,035 feet, the world’s tallest peak.

Bringing a youthful point of view to board, politics
By Lilly O’Donnell
Dodge Landesman ran against Rosie Mendez for City Council last year when he was just 18 and a high school junior, in what New York magazine called “the most creative and elaborate scheme to get out of going to class since Ferris Bueller.”

Trump sales are in a slump
Less than 16 percent of the 391 units at the Trump Soho condo hotel have been sold, according to recently released documents from the state Attorney General’s Office.

Limelight Marketplace’s layout ‘narrow, overloaded, overbearing’
BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN
On May 7th, Limelight re-opened its arched doors — officially embracing its third reincarnation. Located on 6th Avenue and 20th Street, the former Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion became infamous as Peter Gatien’s decadent 1980s/1990s nightclub.

Making CERTain they’re ready in case of emergency
By Bonnie Rosenstock
A car bomb went off. Receiving the call, teams of trained volunteers rushed to the scene to assist the first responders — the police, firefighters and other emergency personnel. The teams extinguished small fires, calmed and controlled the crowd, moved along the traffic, gave CPR to victims.

‘It’s just the way I am’; Quality of life is her life
By Lesley Sussman
Volunteering is almost second nature to Kathryn Donaldson who, for the past 12 years, has served without any compensation as president of the 340-member Bedford Barrow Commerce Block Association.

Helping preserve a piece of the real East Village
By Lilly O’Donnell
Since Ray opened his store right across the street from Tompkins Square Park in the ’70s, he’s had a front-row seat from which to watch the changes that the East Village has gone through.